The development of standards at ASTM International is, and always has been, about the future. For over a century, ASTM International members have been meeting the future head-on by developing innovative standards for emerging technology. When the leaders of cutting-edge industries are ready to develop standards, ASTM International has proved to be a great place to gather and start the process. And so it was that, in June, a group representing the three-dimensional imaging systems industry met at ASTM’s headquarters to form Committee E57 on 3D Imaging Systems.

The standards that Committee E57 will develop will surely be futuristic and wide-ranging, since 3D imaging systems are having an impact on construction and maintenance, surveying, mapping and terrain characterization, manufacturing, mining, mobility, historical preservation, and forensics.

And that is just a partial list.

Articles in this month’s SN take a closer look at the new Committee E57. Following a brief introduction to the committee by Pat Picariello, ASTM director of development operations, Geraldine Cheok, research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Alan Lytle, E57 chair and leader of NIST’s construction metrology and automation group, describe the performance evaluation of 3D imaging systems in more detail in their article. The story particularly focuses on the use of 3D imaging systems in the realm of metrology.

John Palmateer, Boeing Co., provides a unique user’s perspective on 3D imaging systems in his article. Palmateer notes the importance of measuring systems to industry (particularly the airframe industry) and how new standards developed by E57 will be able to improve these systems. In his article on light detection and ranging scanners, Albert Iavarone, product manager, laser imaging division, Optech Inc., also points out an industry-specific example of the importance of standards to the 3D imaging system industry.

In addition to the articles on Committee E57, two other articles in this issue of SN reflect the wide range of ASTM International’s activities. Liu Fei, operations director of the Consortium on Standards and Conformity Asssessment, describes CSCA’s objectives since its formation in 2005 and how it has achieved them. ASTM International is a member of CSCA, along with the American Petroleum Institute, ASME International and CSA America. CSCA’s office is located in Beijing, China.

To meet someone who will clearly be a part of the future of standardization, read the interview with Raissa Douglas Ferron. Ferron is the winner of the inaugural ASTM International Katharine and Bryant Mather Scholarship, awarded by Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates. Ferron is a teaching assistant and Ph.D. candidate studying self-consolidating concrete and cementitious materials at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. With students such as Raissa Douglas Ferron continuing the work of ASTM members from 1898 through today, the future of standardization is indeed in good hands.